This one I wrote just after the last presidential election.
The presidential election is over and I’m depressed and in need of serious help. I hope there is someone out there who, while I hope is not afflicted with the same degree of depression as I am, can at least understand what I am going through and offer some encouraging words to cheer me up. For the last few weeks I have been very tired and emotionally spent. I have not at all been sleeping well and when I do, I have had the worst nightmares I’ve had in years. I have not been doing well in school and I have at times (to mine and my family’s dismay) involuntarily shouted obscenities for no apparent reason at all. To be sure, yes, I am angry; as I am sure many of you are at the outcome of the election. But more than just being angry, I am sad.
Maybe I need counseling. I have thought about it and, like some of the John Kerry supporters in Palm Beach County, Florida, perhaps I should try it. In case you haven’t heard there have been at least fifty Kerry supporters who are in group therapy for treatment of a new disorder called PEST. PEST stands for Post Election Selection Trauma and, ironically, many of the symptoms I have experienced are exactly the same as what these particular Floridians have had.
These symptoms have been described by the county’s American Health Association (AHA) director, Robert J. Gordon and some of the patients there. The Boca Raton News website quoted one of the patients there as being scared. “Democracy is at stake and nobody is rising to protest this president,” the patient said. “According to AHA officials,” states the website, “symptoms of PEST are similar to post-traumatic stress disorder. They include nightmares, sleeplessness, hostility, listlessness…” Gordon said, “If I had a cardboard cutout of President Bush and these people wanted to throw darts at it, I would let them do it… It’s no joke. People with PEST were traumatized by the election. If you even mention religion, their faces turn blister-red as they shout at Bush.” Gordon also said, “More than anything else, people with PEST tremble physically.” According to AHA officials, one of the symptoms even includes threats to leave the country.
Come to think of it, no wonder I’m so angry, sad, and depressed. Wouldn’t you be, too, if you realized that such great entertainment was about to leave the country?
